A NEW LATE CRETACEOUS MACROSEMIID FISH (NEOPTERYGII, HALECOSTOMI) FROM MOROCCO, WITH TEMPORAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE EXTENSIONS FOR THE FAMILY

Abstract:  A recent collection of actinopterygian fossil fishes from a previously unreported locality in the Cenomanian or Turonian of southeastern Morocco includes a single specimen of a macrosemiid fish. Macrosemiids are more common in Jurassic and Early Cretaceous deposits, with the previously known range of the family being Late Triassic through Aptian or Albian. This discovery therefore extends the temporal range of the family into the Late Cretaceous. Moreover, macrosemiids had not previously been reported from northern Africa or the Moroccan area of the Tethys basin; therefore, this fossil also increases the geographical range of the family. The Moroccan macrosemiid is described in a new genus and species, Agoultichthys chattertoni . A phylogenetic analysis places it basal to all other genera of the family with the exception of Notagogus . Diagnostic characters of the new species include the high number of scales laterally along the body and the greater number of dorsal fin rays than in other members of the family.